Not quite as good as the 3D Realms joke last week. The Nvida vs ATI Russian Roulette was pretty funny - the buildup to the fact the gun being a water pistol worked for the first bit, then the punchline at the end (eventually one of us will drown) was kickass. Some of the other bits, though, were less outrageous and laughable. The social inept at the party was less suited to the format the first skit implied (a 20 second soundbite) and seemed to be much better suited to the wry humor of the Office-style skewering of Duke Nukem Forever than something which implied a faster paced series of clips. The Jack Thompson sketch was most disappointing - there's fewer personalities that gamers would love to see ridiculed - but the contrast between Disney and GTA wasn't half as strong as it should have been. Perhaps playing up the drinking element a bit, or showing Thompson as a loathesome misanthrope might have been a better jibe.

The Self-Playing console, while certainly a good riff at games that have pay-as-you-go features as well as those that feel like a second job, didn't play out as bitingly as it could have. Possibly this could have been because of the lackluster skits that came before it - it certainly wasn't a bad skit, just that it seemed to drag out a bit more than it should have. In a better set of skits, it would have worked much better. Overall, not bad, but still some improvement would help. More regular pacing of the humour (consistently fast-paced or consistently wry) would have made for a better video. Keep it strong guys, you're onto something, just keep refining!

I personally liked the Self-Playing Console, if only because it reminds me of so many gamers (myself included) who get so sucked into the "accomplishment" of finishing a game (especially MMO leveling) that they lose sight of actually playing it. The culmination of this trend being high-priced MMO characters for sale.

At the office we have an ironic saying that "purchase is participation", the notion being that someone who buys a lot of games will feel like a hardcore gamer even if he hardly plays any of them. Likewise buying a gym membership makes you feel like a fitness guru, and so on...

This one was pretty hit or miss. The party scene and the Russian roulette parts were clever, and the Self-Playing Console was sort of a funny swipe at folks who resent having to actually play their games (WoW players and SSBB whiners). The bit with Jack Thompson, however, felt a bit weak; a good bit of build up for not much punch line. Still, it's an enjoyable video.

The whole thing was fairly decent. The social retard at the party was mostly just awkward, I think that probably could have been done better. However, that last line made watching the rest of it entirely worthwhile. I cracked up so hard at that! I'm not saying make an entire set of skits like this, it wouldn't work well, but that was a great way to end it.

I think to be honest the weakest was the thomson sketch, but that was still pretty good. Don't listen to them when they say the party sketch was bad though. It reminds me of peep show at its peak - very funny simply because you are cringing at the type of person or you remember that you were/are that type of person.

Keeping up the re-occurring high quality run that began with mortal combat.

Archon:The culmination of this trend being high-priced MMO characters for sale.

It feels more like the use of drop-hacks in games like wc3. I mean, in WoW you'd buy a character to save you the time of having to level it up if you're already an experienced player who wants to try another class or something. But inferior players using drop-hacks to get ranked, what are they gaining exactly? They can't compete up there. The only thing they're doing is watching a number on their statistics screen tick up : P

OH!!! This was awesome, it was one of your best if not the best yet. The resident evil one is definitely on par with this one but well, they had different ' styles ' ... pssh digressing i am! awesome vid keep it up!

Archon:I personally liked the Self-Playing Console, if only because it reminds me of so many gamers (myself included) who get so sucked into the "accomplishment" of finishing a game (especially MMO leveling) that they lose sight of actually playing it. The culmination of this trend being high-priced MMO characters for sale.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Also, I loved the Jack Thompson sketch, and the Russian Roulette was good (both times). The party thing had potential, but it just didn't deliver for me (or maybe I don't want to admit it hit close too home >.<).

I think this series is definitely improving in leaps and bounds. When I first saw their Hitman episode, I just couldn't understand why this was even on the Escapist. Then I saw the Resident Evil episode and thought it was a long, albeit it wobbly, step in the right direction, and the steps only got steadier and faster with the Duke Nukem and News episodes.

Bravo, I've followed De-Rez from the start, but I just have to applaud this. While the party scene was rather slow, you masterfully built up the first skit just to end it with an awesome punchline at the end, I felt the jack thompson one could have been handled better, but the self playing console was good, not great, but good.

I see people saying that the series just keeps improving but I don't see it. Sure they have a couple of good jokes here and there but the overall videos are not funny\boring\abysmal. I don't understand why they keep making these.

In the self Playing console segment Chris Slack still had some dirt/paint on his face from the Australian/New Zealand scene. It made me laugh the most I think. That is saying a lot as the video was (as always) very fun.